| The following statement issued by the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Occupy Central with Love and Peace Respond to Cardinal Joseph Zen’s Comments

(October 8, 2014, Hong Long SAR, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) and Occupy Central with Love and Peace (OCLP) have maintained close cooperation over the course of this movement. Currently, the focus of the movement is on the initiation of talks between HKFS representatives and the government. OCLP’s role is to fully support the students, to liaise with other civil society groups and to provide various practical support to help with the operations of the occupied spaces, as well as to give timely advice to the students. Our hope is that we can cooperate and delegate. This is a movement of all people, it belongs to each one of us.

The facilitators of this occupy movement have always been very cautious about the question of whether to stay or retreat. Without any practical results coming from the occupy movement, we hope students and citizens would choose to stay. Therefore, we cannot lightly tell people to leave.

We understand the Cardinal’s kind reminder and intentions and wholly thank him for his concern for the students’ personal safety. We agree with him when he says the Leung Chun-ying government is “playing with the students”, that it is “crazy, barbaric and unreasonable.” However, we believe the bulk of the responsibility for the current situation lies with the government. Unless the government promptly responds to the demands of the people, the occupy actions cannot end and our daily life and our society cannot return to normal.